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tv   Starting Point  CNN  October 2, 2012 4:00am-6:00am PDT

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information? plus, deadly new details about operation fast & furious. 57 previously undiscovered guns, now linked to that botched atf operation. a packed show ahead. sean spicer, republicans committee communications director. ted strickland. emmy award winning sports caster len berman and actor cary elwes famous for his role in the princess bride. >> it is tuesday, october 2nd. as you wish, "starting point" begins right now. >> all right your starting point the countdown to tomorrow night's high-stakes presidential debates. >> you are about to look live at a stage where it will all unfold at the university of denver. there is president obama and mitt romney preparing to go face-to-face for 90 minutes with the presidency hanging in the balance. >> most americans head to the polls in five weeks. but by that time, an estimated 30% of the country will have
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already voted. >> early voting gets under way this morning in the battleground state of ohio, and the not so battleground state of nebraska. that means ballots are already being cast in ten states across the country. cnn political editor paul steinhauser is with us this morning. paul, more and more voters get a chance to go to the polls early. why is this so important? >> it is interesting, because what happens if a big development happens in this first debate or even some of the other debates and you've already cast your ballot and you want to change your mind. too late. most of the people who are voting early in these states are die-hards. ohio starting today. they're the second battleground state to start early. iowa, christine you know something about that. so it is interesting about a third of the country voted in one way, shape or form before election day four years ago. we'll see somewhere around that this time around. >> it is where you get to see the campaign flex their muscle. >> those die-hards out to the polls. >> especially important for the obama team, get them to the election site now when they're ahead. >> exactly.
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glad you brought up polls because we do have some polls as you well know. we have a brand new cnn/orc national poll and 50% to 47% the president over mitt romney among likely voters. that three-point margin within the sampling error. very tight. we've seen a very tight race in a bunch of the other national polls that came out in the last 24 hours. what about the economy? this is going to be the top issue in this domestic oriented debate tomorrow night. can you get any closer than that? one thing i want to talk about. the gender gap. weaver seen it. and here's a brand new poll from quinnipiac university, another survey in the last hour, not even that. look at that. president with a very large advantage among women voters. in our poll it was a little smaller but the president also had the advantage. mitt romney has an advantage among men but not by as much. >> ten points. not enough to make up for the gap with women. thanks very much for being with us this morning. great to see you in person. >> great to be here. >> in a few minutes sean spicer will join us live. he's the communications director for the republican national
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committee. >> also ted strickland the obama campaign's national co-chair. word that an egyptian nil tant freed from prison in the wake of the arab spring is linked to the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya that killed four americans. "the wall street journal" identified the militant as mohammed jamal abu ahmed and reports that u.s. intelligence has been monitoring his movements. meanwhile, the state department has pulled all u.s. government personnel out of benghazi. "the washington post" reports the consulate is closed, and locked up. but the scene of the deadly attack remains unguarded. there's also word that the white house has held a series of secret meetings over the past few months, due to concern about the growing threat of al qaeda's north africa branch. "the post" reports that a part of the discussion is focused on potential u.s. military strikes against the group known as al qaeda in the islamic magreb. huge heads up for those of you who purchased the new iphone 5. apple support forums online are being overloaded with complaints about a bug that drains cellular data usage even when phones are connected to wi-fi.
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now this is forcing people to blow through their data caps in a matter of days. apple has not publicly commented, but you know, it did already release a software upgrade, with a bug fix. >> go bears. chicago bears mauling the dallas cowboys on monday night football. the chicago defense intercepting tony romo five times. five times in a 34-18 drubbing in dallas. two of those picks were returned for touchdowns. the five interceptions matched a career high for the cowboys quarterback. >> i didn't see the game because i was sleeping. but five picks. oh, man! happy days are here again in the nation's capital. for the first time since 1933, fdr's rookie year by the way, washington has a first place team. the nationals clinching a division title last night. that's the first since the franchise moved there from montreal. meanwhile, another huge story in detroit miguel cabrera closer to becoming baseball royalty. he had four hits last night including his 44th home run of the year.
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detroit clinched the division title in this game. he is real close to becoming the first triple crown winner baseball since 1967. carl yastrzemski. he leads the league in home runs, batting average and runs batted in. this would be a huge deal if he pulls that off. >> you always have a red sox reference. no matter what team it is there's a red sox reference. >> it's all tied to the red sox. back to our top story this morning. under 38 hours until debate night the candidates are cramming to get ready for the night which will focus on domestic policy. president obama joking about it yesterday, talking to a supporter at a phone bank in nevada. >> they're keeping me indoors all the time. it's a drag. they're making me do my homework. >> mitt romney put his spin on the debates last night, as well, at a rally in denver. trying to frame how they would be judged. >> and what, in my view, it's not so much winning and losing or even the people themselves, the president and myself, it's -- it's about something bigger than that.
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these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward for america that we would choose. and the american people are going to have to make their choice as to what kind of america they want. >> based on the latest cnn national poll we showed you, there is a lot at stake. the candidates within the margin of error on each other. sean spicer is the communications director for the republican national committee. he joins us now from the republican national committee headquarters in washington, d.c. and sean, do you agree with republican nominee mitt romney that the debate is not about winning and losing? >> well, i don't think it's about, you know, who scores the most points or not. it's about laying out a vision for where we want this country to go. talking about how each candidate has a different vision. president obama talking about a, you know, a dependency on government. what he promised in 2008 and hasn't gotten done and mitt romney talking about the plan he has to take this country forward. so i think it's an opportunity for both candidates to talk about where they want this country to head, the vision they have. i think unfortunately, you're going to have president obama
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make a lot of excuses as to why, when he was on that stage four years ago, not much of what he ever said was going to happen occurred. >> you know, on the subject of winning and losing, chris christie, big supporter of mitt romney, has come out and said he expects a big win for governor romney in this debate. we talked to brad woodhouse yesterday from the democratic side. this is what he said about christie's comments. >> i think he set the bar high for mitt romney, and the bar should be high for mitt romney. i mean, he's gone through this campaign. we're five weeks out, soledad, and he's not said how he'd pay for his tax plan. we're five weeks out, he hasn't said how he'll shore up medicare or social security. to protect benefits instead of cutting them. the bar is really high for him. i think chris christie set it even a little higher. >> so, sean, how high is the bar for governor romney? >> i see the folks from the obama campaign have talked down the expectations from the president so many days in a row, that today i expect them to come out and say that the president's got a fear of public speaking. i mean, these guys keep talking
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it down like, you know, it's going to be a blow-away. the fact is the president is the only one who's been on a one-on-one stage seven times-ish >> but you're doing the same thing. you're complaining about the democrats and you're doing the same thing. >> no, but i'm just -- the president is the only one who's actually been through a presidential debate. by all accounts i think the one thing that republicans and democrats can agree upon is the president is a gifted speaker. he has amazing rhetoric. he can go out there and wow a crowd. that is his strength. i will give him that. but i think there's a big difference between going out over and over again, and making promises, and having great rhetoric, and then having a record to -- to follow up on. i mean, that's where i think you're going to see the contrast tomorrow night. governor romney is going to be able to lay out very succinctly where he wants to take the country and his plans and policies. i think the president's going to be talking about blame and excuses as to why he wasn't able to get things done. even though he had a democratic congress for two years of his presidency. >> now -- >> he made very specific promises, john, in 2008, on that same stage when he was going
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after senator mccain about cutting the deficit in half. enacting a comprehensive immigration reform. closing guantanamo bay. >> let's talk about immigration reform. >> yeah. >> because mitt romney's been criticized, as well, for not being specific about his plans. and last night in denver, he may have made a little bit of news on his views on immigration policy specifically. he did an interview with the denver post, where he talked about the dream act or the waivers that president obama granted to kids born here in this country. and this is what governor romney said. he said the people who have received the special visa that the president put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. i'm not going to take something that they purchased away basically before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that i've proposed. what he's saying there is he's not going to go after these people. this is the first time that he's really said that. he's had months to lay out this policy. why are we only hearing it now for the first time? >> well, i've heard it. i mean in the sense that what governor romney is talking about
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in terms of immigration is securing our border, and then enacting comprehensive immigration reform among which includes trying to keep families together. the visa expansion so when you have someone from another country that comes to the united states and gets a degree in higher education and tech nomg or science that we stable an h1b visa to them so they can stay in this country and help grow jobs here. he has always made keeping families together part of his comprehensive immigration reform. >> but he has never said that he would let these visas stand that the president just granted. >> no, no, no. what you just said to me was he said he was going to have it taken care of. meaning that he has said that among his top priorities would be working with congress, enacting a comprehensive immigration reform. of which keeping families together would be part ofhat program. so i think it's totally consistent with what he said, because it's a top priority of his to get done. and unlike this president, he would get it done in the first two years of his administration. >> it may be consistent but you do agree what he told the denver post last night is new. it is new news as we say in the
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news business. he's never said that before. >> well, you may be saying he never used those same words in the same sentence before. but if you go ahead and look at mitt romney dotcom where he laid out his immigration plan it talks about keeping families together. he also talks about making it a top priority in his administration within the first two years. to say within the first two years i'm going to have this solved so we don't break up families is completely consistent with the plan he's laid out. >> just a few minutes ago, quinnipiac university released a new poll. one of the numbers that jumped out at a lot of people in this poll was the so-called gender gap. president obama leading mitt romney 56-38%. my math says that is an 18-point lead among women. why such a big gap, sean? >> well, i think it's something that we continue to talk to all americans about, the path going forward. but you could similarly make the case that president obama has a gender gap with men -- >> ten points. a lot smaller. >> he has a gender gap with independent -- or a gap with independents.
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so you can look at a poll and start breaking out various things. but rest assured that i can tell you that governor romney's plan is one that addresses how to make this country better for all americans. deals with issues women care about in terms of ensuring that we have better health care so that our families and our kids can get better. that we have fewer regulations because so many women are running small businesses today. so, it is a campaign that's focused on all americans, and so, i think you're going to hear a lot more about that at the debate. but, -- and i, you know, i believe that that will all close up by election time. >> all right, sean spicer, communications director for the republican national committee. great to see you this morning. thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> check out the complete coverage of our debate tomorrow night right here on cnn, and on cnn.com. it all starts at 7:00 eastern time. >> all right. ahead on "starting point," placing blame for the housing bubble. the president's mortgage broad task force filed its first lawsuit against a big bank. >> and he says he is afraid to return to iran. mahmoud ahmadinejad's personal cameraman wants asylum in the u.s.
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he's said to be more than just a photographer. what does he know? and will he talk? we will talk to his american lawyer coming up next. [ mother ] you can't leave the table till you finish your vegetables. [ clock ticking ] [ male announcer ] there's a better way... v8 v-fusion. vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. could've had a v8...
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[ construction sounds ] ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ]
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come in. ♪ got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ welcome back to "starting point." minding your business, u.s. stock futures signal a higher open for stocks today, and markets closed higher yesterday, after reports showed manufacturing expanded last month. the new york attorney general has filed suit against jpmorgan over the risky mortgage-backed securities packaged and sold duringed housing bubble. the civil suit alleges bear stearns, which jpmorgan now owns, misled investors into
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thinking these toxic mortgage loans had been fully evaluated. total losses suffered from the mortgage-backed securities, $22.5 billion. from 2006 to 2007. google is now worth $249.1 billion. unseating microsoft as the world's second largest tech company in terms of market cap. google took the number two spot yesterday when it gained about 1%, closing that $761.78 a share. apple still market cap king worth $628 billion. >> sounds like a lot of money. >> it's a lot of money and everything has a "b" in front of it. >> this is now a really surprising interesting story you're all going to want to watch. the united states may have been handed an inside source this morning from the inner it most circle of the iranian government. while president mahmoud ahmadinejad was in new york making his final appearance before the u.n. general assembly, a cameraman traveling with his delegation was making a covert getaway. contacting american authorities to seek asylum. >> hassan golkanbhan was
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reportedly apart of ahmadinejad's inner circle for several years. could be a major intelligence loss for the normally tight-lipped iranian government. with us now is the attorney for golkanbhan here in the united states paul o'dwyer. welcome to the program. so he, he came here for the u.n. general assembly, and then contacted authorities. why is he seeking asylum? >> well, he's seeking asylum because he obviously does not want to return to live in iran. >> why? >> concerns about -- first of all, he does not want to continue to live in the regime, and he is offended by how the regime treats people, about how it treats its enemies, about how it treats the iranian people, about the level of persecution there. and he also has concerns about now about his own safety. when he came here, he was, as you say, he was a cameraman with the entourage. he came here with the understanding that he was to take the deal of the -- he works
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for the iranian news agency so he was to do stuff and to do camerawork, you know, at the u.n. and all of that. the authorities wanted him to take video footage of other stuff that he did not want to do. >> like what? >> we don't want to go into too many details but there was things that he thought that he -- >> like propaganda-type stuff? >> yes, things that were outside of what he had -- had -- had thought that that was -- i don't know that i would necessarily call it espionage. but he was concerned about the safety of people that would have been involved. he would have been required to take video footage of. and he refused to do it, and so he knew that then when he returned to iran that he was going to have to face consequences. >> i think people are fascinated by the cloak and dagger of a defection. walk us through what he did while he was here. and also walk us through what he did with his family. >> it's actually, it sounds fascinating. and it is actually not -- it's kind of anti-climactic.
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because what you do is nothing. i mean what happened was, they left, he didn't. and so he just stayed. >> his family, though, is no longer in iran? >> his immediate family has left iran also. >> how did he get them out? >> they left -- you can travel out of iran, you don't need an exit visa. i mean, that i know that the iran government prohibits certain people, particular people from traveling. but his family were able to travel. and they traveled, as they routinely had in the past, while he was away. >> the other aspect that i think is so fascinating to people is when you are a presidential photographer or videographer, you have unbelievable access to the national leader here. >> right. >> a little while ago we spoke to a former white house videographer, someone who is close to president obama, about the access he had. let's listen to that. >> look, you know, photographers and videographers, they put enormous amount of trust in us when it comes to world leader coverage. you know, because, you're not this fly on the wall like people think. you're actually part of a team.
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and clearly, this videographer was enough of the team that he wasn't just a state television employee they brought him on trips. when you're on a trip you're inside the bubble. there's very little you don't see. >> what did he see that could be helpful for american authorities? >> well, as you say, he had -- he was not an adviser. he wasn't in any policy role. he was a videographer with the iranian news agency. but he was asigned to the presidential detail, and obviously -- i mean he had been in that position for many years. so he had, you know, he had -- he had access to -- i mean he worked on that entire echelon and that sort of -- >> he's in the country, he's now in the united states legally as he waits for his asylum to be processed. so we'll have to have a hearing with the government, immigration and customs authorities and they'll have to decide whether or not he meets the qualifications for asylum? >> basically that's it in a nutshell. >> has u.s. intelligence already been in touch with him trying to get whatever information he has? >> we've been in communication
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with the government. >> that sounds vague. what do you mean you've been in communication with the government? >> that means exactly that. i'm trying to be vague. yeah, we've obviously, when somebody from a presidential delegation stays here after they've been here for limited purpose, the government's going to have an interest here, and justifiably so, in who they are, and why have they stayed here. >> why is he afraid for his safety? you said he's afraid for his safety. is he afraid for his safety, why? >> here in the united states? yes, because of the iranian government has a fairly long reach. they have an expensive and a fairly sophisticated, you know, spy network in countries around the world. and so he's obviously concerned about repercussions, and retaliation against him here. >> all right, paul o'dwyer when the time is right and it is safe enough we would love to speak to your client. seems like he has a lot to say and it would be fascinating. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> ahead on "starting point," a leap of faith. a man escapes his burning home by falling into the arms of his
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friends and neighbors. amazing video and how he's doing now. >> and american airlines taking a closer look at some of its planes. why? rows of seats came loose! "srting point" back in a moment. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine.
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officials are playing down a published report that hackers linked to china's government broke into a system used by the white house military office for nuclear commands. all right we had some heart-stopping video out of new york city. a 72-year-old man desperately trying to escape a fire hangs on for dear life from this third floor apartment window. then, he lets go. there it is. wow. friends and neighbors below, they catch him. the whole thing, meanwhile, caught on cell phone video. local stations are reporting that ronnie poe did not suffer any broken bones. lucky man. american airlines has grounded several of its 757s after a row of seats came loose on two separate flights. first on saturday, then again yesterday. a spokeswoman for american says an initial investigation found there may be an issue with certain seat models and how they fit into tracks meant to keep them in place. the faa is also looking into what happened. my gosh. >> can you imagine that? >> first of all your flight leaves on time you're like woo-hoo. oh, no, my seat's not bolted
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down. ahead on "starting point," after some high profile stumbles the debate pressure is on mitt romney. what is his strategy for tomorrow night? up next, virginia governor bob mcdoneal who backs the gop candle is going to tell us. >> and it was the night 22-year-old cassius clay shook up the world. one of the greatest sports moments ever coming up. plus emmy award winning sports caster len berman joins us live to tell us more of his favorites. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation,
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not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ ♪
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well comback to "starting point." tomorrow night, denver will be the home to the first of three presidential debates. you're looking live at the hall of the university of denver where two candidates will square off for an hour and a half in prime-time. both candidates took a break from studying yesterday.
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romney held a predebate rally in denver to get locals fired up for wednesday's face-off and president obama stopped by a local campaign call center to meet supporters and make some phone calls. bob mcdonnell is the governor of virginia. also also the chair of the republican governor's association and a supporter of mitt romney's campaign. good morning, sir. >> good morning, christine. thanks for having me on. >> pleasure to have you. it's going to be an exciting week. what does your guy have to do on wednesday to really send it home, and to start getting more support in the polls? >> i think he's got to paint the vision for the future about why a romney presidency for four years is going to be a lot better than four more years of president obama. and i think this is the first time, christine, where people have had a chance to see side by side the two candidates. maybe 50 million, 60 million people watching. and i think he's going to hone in on the top issues that americans care about. and that is how to get our great country out of debt and back to work, with 8% unemployment for
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43 months and gas prices doubling. and adding $6 trillion to the national debt. these are clearly things americans know we're on the wrong track on. i think what you're going to see mitt romney talk a lot about his plans to reverse that trend. policies of obama that have not worked. and why romney's plans will work. i think that's the heart and soul of what this election is about. >> you know, he has been talking about this on the stump speech. and i mean, tell me why for mitt romney the economy is not resonating with him more. when you look at the polls and our polling in particular, the president and mitt romney are basically neck and neck on the issue of the economy. a little bit of an edge for your candidate on the issue of unemployment. but why, with all of those statistics that you just rattled off, why isn't your guy, the business guy, doing better on that? >> it is somewhat perplexing given how poorly the president has managed the economy. there's been a lot of promises, and platitudes. but not a lot of results. that's mitt romney's shtick. he's about getting results, as governor of massachusetts and
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turning around the olympics. i think there's been a couple things. one the democrats got a little bump out of the convention. two, i think the president has done a good job on tv with some of his face to the camera commercials, making his promises. even though they're some of the same ones he made before, he sounds good. >> it's resonating -- >> now they're actually getting things done. >> you look at this quinnipiac poll this morning that's getting a lot of buzz, the gap between mitt romney and barack obama is 18 points on this quinnipiac poll. can mitt romney win without closing out this gap? and what does he need to do to change whatever he is whafsh he is stumping on it's not resonating with women the way you say the president's failed policies are. >> i'd say he needs to complete the sentence. i think people get at a fundamental level that this economy is not on track. we're not doing well. 43 million people without jobs, the highest number of people on food stamps. you know, they know at a gut level it's not working. so i think governor romney will
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now complete the sentence and say, okay, going forward in four years, you want four more years of that? or will -- or will you accept my plan that is governor romney's for energy production, and more trade, and workforce development, and a better tax policies for small business. this is the plan that will get us to a better recovery, and more access to the american dream. >> when you say complete the sentence. but so far that sentence, you look at the polls and ease just not i mean, or does the campaign need to refocus away from the economy since that doesn't seem to be resonating? >> i disagree with that. there's no question in all the polls, christine, that while this gap is there, that that's what people are voting on. they're ultimately it's about jobs, it's about their financial future, it's about their american debt, it's about gas prices and energy. i think that's why tomorrow night is so important. side by side the record of barack obama versus the plans
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and vision of mitt romney and why the future will go better with a romney presidency. that's what his message will be tomorrow night. i think it will be compelling and a side by side comparison is what people have been wanting to see. i think this is a great chance for governor romney to close this gap. in virginia it's still margin of error. we feel pretty good about our chance. we have money parity. we didn't have that four years ago. we're pretty encouraged about closing this out here. >> these are clearly the closing arguments of the campaign. the side by side comparison first of three. i want to switch to the subject of immigration. romney's quoted in the denver post this morning on immigration, and about allowing these immigration waivers that the president offered up in june to young people who are in the country who brought here illegally, who may be going to college, their whole life they've been in the united states. but, they are not legally in this country. this is what he says, mitt romney says the people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place which is a two-year visa should
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expect the visa would continue to be valid. i'm not going to take something that they've purchased. before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that i've proposed. is he softening on his immigration stangs here? at the beginning of this, of this campaign, we were hearing about self-deportation, about taking away the, the magnets for people to come here illegally, and now he's talking about allowing these visas to stand. >> i can only say that on the immigration issue that's another example of the president's failure. he promised comprehensive immigration reform four years ago, christine. we're still waiting. he hasn't got it done. i think what mitt romney is saying this policy is already in place that affects a very small number of people. and those are the cases that tug at your heartstrings, obviously. but what i think the governor is saying that unless we get border security, and change the enforcement rules internally in the country, and then have a plan to deal with maybe 12 million people that are legal, we're not doing justice to the american people.
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you need to have a comprehensive plan -- >> but why now? why now? because it seems to be new language to me. and you talk about border enforcement and interior enforcement. and frankly, that's something progressives have criticized this president about. they complain, too, that there's a lack of comprehensive immigration reform. but they also complain about his tough crackdown. >> look, i don't think this is an issue that's going to move a lot of voters. it is in certain areas of the country. i do think it's a one more unmet need that the american people have had for a long time. i think our comprehensive approach, frankly, both of them have promise d is what we need o do. ultimately that's not what people are going to vote on. they want to get their sons and daughters out of debt, back to work -- >> you don't think this is something that's going to resonate with independent voters at all? >> well, not much. i mean look at all the polls. they don't, i can tell you from listening to people in virginia, from looking at the polls, it's about jobs, the economy, energy, prices, and leadership. a vision for the future.
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this is certainly a broken promise of the obama administration. that governor romney can fix. and if people in a few of the border states and areas but it doesn't have the intensity like jobs and the economy, gas prices do right now. i think that's mostly what this debate will be about tomorrow night. i think it's the right message for governor romney and i think this gets him as close as that gap in the swing states and makes it a new ball game. >> mostly if you think mostly on the economy that would be really interesting because they have been real tight in the polls on the economy governor bob mcdonnell from virginia, thank you so much, sir. >> okay. >> you can watch the first presidential debate tomorrow night right here on cnn, also on cnn.com, live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. >> let's take a look now at the rest of the mornings headlines. a video posted on youtube appears to show american freelance journalist austin tice who has been missing in syria since mid august. a video posted by supporters of the assad regime. the man is blindfolded and clearly in distress. he's being shofred by militants.
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his family and two news organizations he works for say the man is tice. but the state department says it cannot verify it's him at this point. police in philadelphia are investigating an accident, incident that was caught on tape during sunday's puerto rican day parade. the video shows an officer punching a woman in the face. and knocking her to the ground. authorities say the woman was throwing water or beer on the cops prior to this incident. philadelphia police say the officer's been identified, he has been taken off the street. they're conducting a full-scale investigation. three cars on an amtrak train are derailed south of fresno, california. wow that's not a good angle to be sitting at. officials say a tractor trailer failed to stop at a crossing and plowed into the side of the passenger train yesterday afternoon. more than 170 people were on board at the time. dozens were injured. luckily the injuries were not serious. this is one endorsement lebron james could do without. a philadelphia police busted a 19-year-old drug dealer after he told 140 packets of heroin to an
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undercover officer. now the heroin bags featured lebron's name, and a silhouette of the miami heat star throwing down a monster dunk. >> yes. we're going to move on now. seth mcfarland, the man behind tv's family guy and the blockbuster ted he's taking on a new gig, hosting next year's oscars. when he was asked if any of the other animated characters might make cameos he told the hollywood reporter it would be expensive and too soon to say right now. obviously trying to appeal to younger people with that. >> all right. ahead on "starting point" twoferries collide in hong kong. dozens are dead. hong kong police are taking action against crew members and a haphazard google search leads to the arrest of a man the feds have been trying to nab for 30 years. you can't escape technology.
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alriwoah! did you get that? and...flip! yep, look at this. it takes like 20 pictures at a time. i never miss anything. isn't that awesome? uh that's really cool. you should upload these. i know, right? that is really amazing. the pictures are so clear. kevin's a handsome devil that phone does everything! search dog tricks. okay, see if we can teach him something cool. look at how lazy kevin is. kevin, get it together dude cmon, kevin take 20 pictures with burst shot on the galaxy s3.
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welcome back to "starting point" everyone. at least 38 people have been killed in the collision of two passenger ferries in hong kong. hong kong police arrested six crew members from both vessels on suspicion of endangering passengers. more than 100 survivors were pulled from the water. police in st. maarten have arrested a second suspect in connection with the murders of an american couple on the caribbean island. the 17-year-old was captured after an intensive search. michael and thelma king were stabbed to death in their vacation home last month. police aren't ruling out further suspects. a google search by a bored u.s. marshal has turned up one of the fbi's most wanted criminals after 30 years on the run. john donald cody was already under arrest in ohio under the name bobby thompson but a search matched an old photo of cody to his alter ego. the feds want him in connection with a multimillion dollar
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charity scam. all right something missing from the ikea catalog in one country, moms! the giant furniture retailer ikea apologizing for the saudi arabian version of its catalog. it deleted all traces of women from the magazine. and from its companion website. apparently in accordance with saudi arabian rules about showing women in public. but ikea now says it regrets the move and that excluding women is in conflict with the company's values. >> can't take mom out of the catalog. all right ahead on "starting point," spanning the world to find the greatest moments in sports. award winning sports caster len berman, no relation, joins us to talk about his new book.
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welcome back to "starting point" everyone. they are the stories that inspire us. those come from behind victories, struggles against long odds to become the very best. >> that's why we love sports. and you'll find so many of these stories in the new kids find so stories in the greatest moments of sports, upsets and underdogs. the author is with us live, emmy-award winning len berman. >> i want to know if we're related. >> i wish. i would be a lot farther along in broadcasting if you were my uncle. >> chris berman? >> neither. >> talking sports, no less. >> we were talking about this in the break. is it because it deal with his upsets and underdogs, unbelievable cherished thing? i think so. halfway through writing it, i realized it wasn't a sports book. that sounds odd because every story is sports. i envision young boy zbirlss
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reading this, seeing them all succeeding. maybe it's a book of empowerment to say if they can do it, i can, too. maybe not necessarily in the sports venue, but in some area of life. >> the horse named upset. >> i love that story. manowar, from the early 1900s, lost only once. what was the name of the horse that beat him? the answer is upset. the point where empeople think the word upset came into the english language because he beat man o war. not true. >> there are ones like muhammad ali, casious clay. he started as an underdog. >> and disliked. first trash talker. he he came out and said i'm the greatest and made rhymes.
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i'm grade and going to win in eight. people didn't like him. he goes to fight the great -- he was the baddest man on the planet before mike tyson, served time in a missouri state penitentiary for armed robbery, heavy favorite. lost once. arena is half empty. everyone assumes in miami that clay is going to lose. and clay now i'm the greatest. >> and rematch in maine of all plays. >> still looking for that punch. >> there's another underdog in your book, jim abbott. born without a right hand. this is yankee legend here. >> he played for other teams, too. could you imagine not being born with a right hand? his parents wanted him to play soccer for obvious reasons. he wants to play baseball. throws a no-hitter first game he ever pitches. become the quarterback. the coach says he has a strong arm and also punts. can you imagine trying to field
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the long snap with one hand and punting? pitches a no-hitter for the yankees. inspiring story. >> what i love so much, he was a feel-good story to begin with. he didn't just make the big leagues. he excelled, threw the no-hitter. >> not only that. he went to play in the national league where they don't have the designated hitter. he to bat. >> wasn't bad. >> with one hand. he get ace hit, rbi. he did it all. >> i have 5-year-old twin boys. they have a tend enency to chee for whoever is winning. i'm trying to convince them it's not always good to pull for the front-runner. you should pull for the underdog, the guy who is behind. >> tell them to grow up. what are you teaching your kids? no. i think that kids -- i'm not sure they cheer for the winner. i remember going to the game as a kid and turning to my brother and father and saying who do i root for? you have to have an interest, but i would think rooting for the underdog is the natural.
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undefeated as the patriots did in that super bowl, and giants catch a ball off his helmet. people would want to see -- they don't want to see the favorites win. people root against the yankees. they want to see the little guy succeed. >> do you have a favorite underdog of all time? >> i love the story of jason mcelwain, let him in the last game of his last year in high school, in for four minutes, scores 20 points and carry him off the court on their shoulders and and made the nation cry. made the president cry. >> george bush actually stopped to visit him on air force one. talk about overkochling the odds and succeeding, that's what it's all about. >> ry dechlt r cup, would that make the book? >> it's based on perspective. you talk about the miracle on ice, that ain't such a miracle on ice in russia. everything depends on your point of view. ryder cup, great collapse in
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america, no. it's all perfect spespective. >> len berman, nice to meet you. >> thank you, christine. nice to meet you. say hello to uncle joe. ahead on "starting point" deadly details about fast and furious. 60 previously undiscovered guns now linked to the botched atf operation. is this scandal growing larger? prepare to die. the classic princess bride turns 25. 25. superstar actor stops biure studio live. he he will tell us his favorite irresistible quotes from the film. >> we'll quiz our "starting point" team. don't go away. we're back in a moment. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world.
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professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. romney: "it's time to stand up to the cheaters" vo: tough on china? not mitt romney. when a flood of chinese tires threatened a thousand american jobs... it was president obama who stood up to china and protected american workers. mitt romney attacked obama's decision... said standing up to china was "bad for the nation and our workers." how can mitt romney take on the cheaters... when he's taking their side?
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early voting under way in ten states, including the key state of ohio. plus, new numbers showing mitt romney may be in serious trouble with women. >> 57 previously undiscovered guns now linked to the botched gun-running operation. some possibly tied to a hit on teenagers. and sword play, giants, evil prince, beautiful princess and, yes, some kissing. what on earth could we be talking about other than the princess bride? >> nothing gave buttercup much pleasure as ordering westley around. zblie want to see my face shining in it by morning. >> as you wish. >> as you wish.
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we will have the farm boy, cary elwes, as we celebrate 25 years of the film's debut. >> feels like yesterday. but it's tuesday, october 2nd. "starting point" begins right now. >> ryan lizza, roland martin, washington watch with roland martin, and will cain, all fans of "the princess bride." >> leather coat. guns. >> right, okay. >> just checking. >> our "starting point" this morning, countdown to the showdown. debate night. first live look inside the hall where president obama and governor romney will face off tomorrow night. two will enter. one will leave.
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candidates are krcramming, gettg ready for a debate on domestic policy. president obama was joking about it yesterday. >> they're making me do my homework. >> mitt romney put his own spin on the debates last night as well at a rally in denver, trying to frame sort of how they will be judged. >> in my view it's not so much winning or losing, the people themselves, the president or myself. it's about something bigger than that. these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward for america that we would choose. and the american people are going to have to make their choice as to what kind of america they want. >> now based on the latest cnn national poll, there is a lot at stake here. candidates very much within the margin of error of each other. we're joined by ted strictionland, former democratic governor of ohio. also a co-chair right now of the obama campaign. good morning. nice to see you governor
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stricti strickland. >> good morning. >> the polls, there has been some tightening. cnn poll, president obama enjoys a three-point lead. a little while ago, it was a six-point lead. we've been talking to political operatives around the country and they all feel like the race has tightened some. does this make you nervous? >> not at all. i mean, the latest poll in ohio from the columbus dispatch has the president at nine points. senator brown at 10 points. i think here in ohio, if anything, the margin has actually widened in recent days. in the battleground states especially, the president seems to be doing very well. >> so you have no fear that the president peaked too early? >> you always have a little fear. i have great confidence in this president and the campaign. the campaign here in ohio is the strongest i've ever seen. the grassroots effort, the local efforts to get out the vote.
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i think we're going to do okay. you don't count your chickens before they hatch and we're not going to do that. but we're voting in ohio beginning today. and people stayed up all night, camped out all night here in ohio, waiting to be able to cast their votes this morning. that shows the enthusiasm that exists here in our great state. >> the big news, of course, this week is the presidential die ba -- debates. there are examples of mr. obama having issues with tone in past debates. let's listen to a famous moment. >> he's very likable. i agree with that. i don't think i'm that bad. >> you're likable enough. >> thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> roland martin is here, saying that was a funny line. a lot of people thought it came
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off as smug at best and a lot worse. >> i don't expect any major gaffes from either candidate. quite frankly, i don't expect a race to change as much. these people have been on the political scene for months or years. there may be, you know, a small number that are undecided. but if those undecideds were to break evenly, i think the president will win this election by a huge margin. >> the margin right now looks anything but huge. razor thin within the margin of error. a new campaign line has been taken up over the past few days, saying we can't afford another four years of president obama. the romney campaign has released that and also american crossroads, one of these super
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pacs, has released an ad that focuses on this issue. >> $5 trillion deeper in debt. now we have fewer jobs than when he started. what obama promised versus what he delivered. >> american crossroad sincere responsible for the content of this advertising. >> that ad hits a lot of points we talked about in this campaign. do they have something there, that he did not deliver on the promises he made four years ago? >> well, i don't think they do. americans understand that this president inherited the most difficult of circumstances, having lost about 750,000, almost 800,000 jobs in the month he came into office. this recession, he inherented, it was caused by the same policies that mr. romney would take us back to. >> but unemployment is -- the income is down. >> you know, in ohio -- and i'm -- >> but there are 47 other states. unemployment around the country is up. >> there are 49 other states but
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there are a handful of swing states. and my understanding is looking at the latest polls, that every swing state, perhaps say north carolina -- and that's considered a toss-up -- the president has at least a slight lead. and in some states, like hoirks a very sizeable lead. >> he may have a lead but that doesn't mean unemployment is down there. >> no, it doesn't. well, in our state, unemployment is much improved. we are below the national average. and that's because the president saved the auto industry. that's because the president passed the recovery act. and so we're starting to see here in the midwest, in these manufacturing states, manufacturing come back. the president has provided that kind of leadership. you can't argue with the success that we've experienced here in ohio. but that success, i think, is being seen in, you know,
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michigan, and in pennsylvania and many other states that are critical to the outcome of this election. >> governor, i think the republicans are arguing with that success, if you're calling success around the country an unemployment rate higher than when he took office, median income that's lower than when he took office. if that's success, doesn't president obama have a problem going forward? >> the president took office, i repeat myself, under the most difficult of circumstances. a recession that was caused by the same policies that mitt romney would take us back to. there are no new ideas except to privatize social security, to voucherize medicare, to cut pell grants. that's the obama agenda -- or the romney agenda. and that's why the american people are not accepting mr. romney and his leadership. listen, he has been around for months. he says, you know, i've got some opportunities to tell the people what my vision is. what's he been telling the people over last eight or nine
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or ten months? the american people have heard his story. they have listened to paul ryan and they have rejected their approach. they are embracing this president's agenda because he's got us headed in the right direction. things are improving in america and we ought not to just turn around and go back to the same failed policies that brought on this recession in the first place. >> governor strickland it's always a pleasure to speak with you. >> thank you. >> did you ever see the princess bride? last question. we'll never find out the answer to that question, maybe most important. >> go home and watch the princess bride. >> don't do it. >> what do you make of what governor strickland said there? >> the president's cold and confident nature, for some, comes off as overconfident, can
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come off as condescending. you played that clip with hillary clinton. how does that play when you have power? will it come off as condescending and smug against mitt romney? it's a tricky thing he has to maneuver. >> last thing you're thinking about right now is what's going to be the tone of mitt romney and president obama? what they want to know is what are you going to do? how are you going to make my life better over the next four years? we spent more time focused, talking about what -- when i say we i mean a broad media. superficial stuff, what color tie they have on, how are they standing, were they sighing as opposed to what had did they say? that's what matters to somebody sitting out there. >> this comes to someone criticizing the color of my tie before. >> dude, think about it. you need some color. >> governor strickland, i'm surprised how optimistic he s he sounds like the race is over and
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that obama has this sewn up. >> sour surrogate. >> kudos to him for saying what he believes. usually they play expectations down, talk about what a great debater obama is and how terrible romney strickland was sounding like it's over. >> i'm so tired of playing down expectations. >> me, too. romney is promising to honor temporary work permits for younger illegal immigrants who were allowed to remain in the u.s. after that executive order was signed by president obama this summer. the denver post says, quote, the people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, wfs a two-year visa, should expect the visa would continue to be valid. i'm not going to take something that they've purchased. before those visas have expired we will have the full
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immigration reform plan that i've proposed. squaring off in their second debate last night, brown tried to paint himself as an outsider in a dysfunctional washington. warren said he makes a different case behind closed doors and also said republicans, including brown, are out to block president obama's economic agenda. >> could the -- wow! >> football player. >> could the desks of mahmoud ahmadi nechlt jad be -- then he never left. now in hiding and seeking asylum in the u.s. we asked his american toerp why he felt he had to leave. >> he does not want to continue to live in the regime. he is offended by how the regime treats people, how it treats its enemies, the iranian people, about the level of persecution there and he also has concerns
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now about his own safety. >> his attorney tells us that the videographer's family has also fled iran. >> those who have the iphone 5, check your data usage. apple support forums online are being overloaded with complaints about a bug that drains data cellular usage. apple has not publicly commented but did already release a software upgrade with a bug fix. very rough monday night for tony romo and the chicago bears. picking off the dallas quarterback five times. count it. >> five times, girl. >> thrashing of the cowboys. two interceptions returned for touchdowns. five interceptions matched a career high for cowboys quarterback. >> tony romo special last night. about every five, six games. >> i'm going to put a houston, texas, lapel pin on cain.
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>> that's just cold. >> it was a rough night. >> one more sports stoerks miguel cabrera, leading in all three triple crown categories for the detroit tigers, would be the first player to win the triple crown since 1967. the player then was -- >> thank you very much, boston red sox. will cain. i don't think we're talking enough about miguel cabrera. no, in general. the triple crown would be -- we have to talk about "the princess bride." >> we have to talk about this documentary. going into iowa right here, followed by a film crew. >> right. >> end up on abc news but it's not real. none of it was real. >> a very real movie we will be talking about. the most exciting thing that's happened to any of us here, 25th anniversary of "the princess bride" that man, westley himself, the farm boy in here to talk about this epic film.
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we are very excited. stay with us.
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so before the break, we showed you this bit of trivia. which actor was originally considered for the role of vizzini in "princess bride"? danny devito. >> they're weeping right now.
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>> better attitude about "princess bride." you've got 20 minutes to develop a better attitude here. >> i'm with you, for the record, roland. the long, rough road that romney took -- peanut gallery here. it's easy to forget the long, rough road that romney took to become the gop nominee. genie wilson, who was followed around by a film crew, documenting every step of the nominating process. >> can i get a hug? >> thank you. >> i want a hug, too. >> how are you? >> we need jobs. we need jobs backback here in iowa. >> the problem, it was all a lie. jeannine wilson was a character created by actress jane edith wilson in a new film entitled jeannine from des moines. they both join us now from los
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angeles. our first question to you is why? why do this? why go out as a fake voter and make this documentary? >> well, first of all, i wouldn't wall it a documentary. we made this film. in an election season we see how polarized politics is in the u.s. we wanted to have a conversation about, you know, the gap between campaign trail rhetoric and people like janeane from des moines. >> you look at these swing states and it's well documented. people in campaign rallies with hidden cameras, ambush reporters. you've got lots and lots of coverage from inside and outside the campaigns. what does your film, if it's not a documentary then, a mockumentary. what does it show that people weren't getting from all other forms of media covering the election? >> where is this gap between the
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campaign trail rhetoric from politicians and everyday reality of people like janeane. we really wanted to explore, you know, what would happen if somebody like janeane, a conservative, had to face the contradiction in her life? the story, she basically losing everything. and she has to -- she loses her job, her health care. she gets sick. and she needs to confront these problems. and she needs to talk to the campaign -- the candidates about what's going on with her. >> so, jane, you were playing the role of janeane, but no one on the other side knew you were playing a role. it's almost improv, what you were doing. >> yeah. >> tell me about that. >> well, basically i had, you know, my character and where i s coming from and, you know, my point of view where i lived, my job. i was playing somebody who was a home health care worker. and as we started the process of filming in the spring of 2011,
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everything was kind of going fine. had her marriage was going fine. she was working a lot, had good health care. slowly, as the year progressed, a lot of these things did fall away. as the candidates kept meeting in iowa, she kept approaching them, wanting more and more answers for how what they were going to do for america was going to affect her life. and, you know, she wanted very specific answers. >> obviously, that's very effective. very effective. so effect iive, you ended up on abc news. let's look at a clip from you -- they thought you were a real voter. let's watch. >> okay. >> we have no jobs and we have no health care. i'm probably going to get divorced because everything -- >> i'm so sorry. >> everything is falling apart in our lives. >> i really want to help. >> i do believe in you, but we need an aen. we need jobs and health care. i'm sorry.
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i'm just -- i'm at the end of my rope. >> and roland martin is sitting here saying abc news got punked. do you feel badly about that? >> do feel badly about punking abc news? >> yeah. there are a lot of real voters in iowa and a lot of people take the iowa caucuses very seriously. do you feel badly that you duped abc into thinking that your concerns were a real voter in iowa? >> i am a real voter. i'm from iowa. i have a lot of things in common with this character. i'm a mom. i'm a christian. i don't feel like the character i was portraying was a fake confection completely. i had to muscle my way to the front of the line. a lot of media and political handlers and not a lot of real people making their way to the line. >> but you weren't a real person. by trying to show the gap between real people and the
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campaigns, you actually were pretending to be something you weren't, which just adds to the level of smoke and mirrors. >> it's all political theater, isn't it? it's all political theater, isn't it? iowa caucuses, as you probably know, is a media circus. we weren't following janeane around. it wasn't just about getting janeane's story, but capturing the events going on. i don't like the term mockumentary. >> i don't mean to be rude. what makes the iowa caucus a media circus is when people go and pretend to cry and make an emotional appearance in front of the cameras and pretend to be people who they're not. i think it would be fine if you would tell us about a mockumentary you would make, but you're sel sitting there telling us this is real. why did you turn it into a bigger media circus with these
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pranks? >> i'm just saying -- i wouldn't call it a prank. there's so much year-round -- >> fake crying in front of mitt romney, in front of the cameras, you don't think that's a prank? >> we wanted to tell the stouffer somebody whose life is in despair because of the policies affecting this country right now. and, yeah, this is a fictional film with documentary-style elements in it. i don't think -- i think when people see the film they'll see i'm not poking fun at a person like janeane, i'm very connected to a person like janeane. i'm from iowa originally. it's a very serious story and people will be affected by it. >> who is punking who? there is also some level of playing to the camera by candidates as well. >> no doubt about it. >> there's lots of cameras and they're playing to the camera as well. >> the film is titled "janeane from des moines."
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more deadly fallout from the fast and furious gun-running program. did they carry out a brutal hit on innocent teenagers using weapons they got from the u.s. government? made famous by his role as westley in the princess bride, here celebrating the 25g9 anniversary of the classic. i'm going not going to call it classic. it's a classic. what other movedy "the princess bride" screenwriter write? butch cass day di and the sundance kid, the wizard of oz or the never ending story?
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the answer when we return. >> my name is -- you killed my father. prepare to die. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation,
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not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world.
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that's my world. ♪ before the break, we asked you this key question. what other movie did the "the prince cess bride" screenwriter write? "butch cassidy and the sundance kid," all the president's men, screenplay for that, and "the princess bride," will cain. darn good writer. actor cary elwes is coming up, which roland is thrilled about that. missing in syria since mid august. in the video posted by
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supporters of the assad regime, the man is blindfolded and clearly in distres. some things are raising red flags. jihadist groups usually distribute videos through extremist sites and not through youtube. also raising questions. his family and two news organizations he works for says the man is theiss but the state department says it cannot verify that for sure. incident caught on tape during sunday's puerto rican day parade, punching a woman in the face and knocking her to the ground. a source says that the woman was throwing water or beer at the police. the officer has been taken off the street. they are conducting a full investigation. 757s after a row of seats came loose on two separate flights, saturday and then again yesterday. faa looking into these incidents. american airlines spokeswoman
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says an initial investigation found there may be an issue with certain seat models and how they fit into tracks meant to keep them in place on the plane. bernie madoff ponzi scheme may have started two decades earlier than previously thought. new charges filed monday by federal prosecutors say five former long-time madoff employees were working on the scam all the way back to the 1970s. brand new details on the extent of the damage from fast and furious. botched atf operation that allowed guns to go across the border to mexico with the intent of tracking them to mexican drug cartels. a painstaking investigative report. it found many of those guns from the u.s. were, indeed, used in murders, kidnappings and at least two massacres across the border. worry joined by one of the reporters covering this for univision.
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so nice to see you today, sir. thanks for coming by. what did you find? >> well, we found a number of things. i guess what you mentioned already was we found that there is a strong suspicion that some of these weapons from fast and furious operation were used in the 2010 massacre, basically a birthday party where a lot of young teenagers in the city were partaking of a birthday party and hitmen from a rival cartel showed up and killed more than a dozen teenagers. and so there's a strong suspicion that guns from fast and furious were used in that massacre. >> starting with your investigation of that massacre at the birthday party, trying to track three guns used by the assassins there, you were able to find 57 fast and furious guns in mexico that u.s.
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congressional investigators apparently had missed. how did you track them down? >> well, what we did was we did a public records request in mexico, using their public records law. we got thousands and thousands of serial numbers of seizures of the defense ministry of weapons they had seized. they took those serial numbers and compared them to the serial numbers of a list of fast and furious guns that they also obtained and we got 96 exact matches. then we took those 96 exact matches sw cross referenced them with the list of around 122 guns that congress had and also serial numbers that the mexican government had made available through press releases. and we got that number, 57 unknown weapons. >> you also conclude d that mexican officials knew about fast and furious long before
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they admitted it. >> yes. we found that through sources and documentation, there was a mexican justice official station in the atf phoenix field division, atf office that ran fast and furious. and this official was there many months before the operation began and didn't leave until it was over. he was experienced with atfs weapons tracking databases and the tracking system. he was also on the same floor as the fast and furious agents. then he was embedded with the intelligence unit of the field division. also according to documentation we've seen in sources, he was briefed on the operation well before the january 2011 date that the mexican government has said that was the first time
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they knew about the operation. >> has the justice department respond responded to this report? there's been so much hand wripging and backlash in the u.s. because of the death of a border patrol agent here. clearly, if you're tracking fast and furious guns to murders and that birthday party murder in mexico, this is a really serious matter. >> yes. i mean, obviously, in the united states the story has been covered a lot. it has been covered. c congressional investigation has looked into it. inspector general has come out with a report. there were hearing in congress. our report focused on what was happening in mexico. who were the victims, like brian terry in the united states, who were the victims in mexico? we're trying to shine a light on that. the mexican government for more than a year says it's investigating to see what's happened, hasn't produced its report. and we feel that there is, you
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know, a lot of information that still needs to come out. there's unconfirmed reports that up to 300 people may have died as a result of fast and furious guns flowing into mexico. we wanted to get the ball rolling on that. >> a lot of people don't realize that drugs come across the border. money from the sale of the drugs used to purchase guns that then go south of the border and so much of this violence is the cycle that is going back and forth. fast and furious meant to track these guns but now fast and furious has become part of the story. thank you so much for that report. >> thank you. we have some breaking news just in to cnn, which feels like it's related very much, at least to the theme of this story. border patrol agent was killed in the tucson sector of arizona in naco. at the brian terry border patrol station named after the officer
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who was killed. i don't know that there's any connection to the fast and furious other than this was a border patrol agent at the brian terry station. this just happened. >> picture you were seeing is brian terry who is, of course, the fallen border patrol agent for which the station is named but also whose death sparked this investigation into fast and furious. the first debate in 2012 will be seen tonight. right before the face-off, mitt romney says it's not about winning. what does that mean? princess bride phenomenon. conversation with our true love. >> bye-bye, boys. >> have fun storming the castle. >> do you think it will work? >> bye-bye. oh no, not a migraine now.
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>> guessed wrong. >> you only think i guessed wrong. that's what's so funny. i switched glasses when your back was turned. you fool. the most famous is never get involved in a land war in asia. but ohm slightly less known is this, never get involved in a sicilian when guess is on the line. >> cary elwes is coming up soon. but first we -- >> we've seen half the movie. >> many people may rather watch that instead of the presidential
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debate. will, first off, what are these debates about? >> roland made the point earlier that people want to hear substantive arguments. i wish he were right. >> i am. >> presidential diet dibaits have actually determined how nixon and gore came off as likable or not. >> 2008 i host a show on cnn called what they didn't talk about. that's also going to be key. i hope you really do have some expansive issues beyond the same kind of stuff we always have been hearing. i'll be paying attention to the next day is what they didn't focus on. >> "american idol" america now? back in those days it wasn't an "american idol" mencht it took less to entertain people. do you think voters want to be entertained and wooed? >> some voters are undecided and people want to hear specifics
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from the candidates. by this time most americans have made up their mind. and that's why they don't matter as much as they used to. people are coming to the debates with with their partisan jerseys on, rooting for their guy. big diences, but not a lot of people in recent elections are making up their mind based on them. >> let me disagree this one time with ryan lizza. the reagan can/ca/carter debate week before. >> this is 2012. because of early voting, saturation of television ads, amount of money that is spent, people are bombarded with information for almost two years. >> those undecideds haven't been sitting there undecided because the issues haven't been presented to them. >> you're not suppose ed d to s this on tv but i don't think the debates are going to matter much. >> nevertheless, you should watch and watch on cnn, our complete coverage and analysis of the debate begins tomorrow at
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7:00, including fact checking. you are going to want to watch it. >> so key on this we've been enjoying these clips all morning. beloved movie "the princess bride" turns 256789 inconceivable! >> cary elwes is with us. >> even he is falling asleep. >> just stretching. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.
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my horse's saddle, i want to see my face shining in it by morning. >> as you wish. >> as yowish.
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memorable words from one of the most memorable movies of all time. >> today "the princess bride" turns 25, with many people recalling their favorite scenes, like this classic. >> my name is montoya. you killed my father. prepare to die. >> the romantic lead of the princess bride was cary elwes, playing westley. it is great to have you here this morning. >> thank you. >> do you think we would still be talking about it 25 years later and debating whether it's a classic or culture classult classic? >> no, we had no idea. we wanted to make the best possible movie we could make and had fun making it. i feel really blessed. i still get fan mail from all over the world to this day. >> somebody has to come up to
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you every day. >> and say can you say the lines, as you wish? >> say it for real. >> don't do it, cary. don't do it. >> oh, man. >> i'm a huge fan. if i run into the conan brothers, i'm going to whip them with lines. are you -- >> it wil probably be on my tombstone when i pass away. >> his dad tells him, hey, son, if they remember you for one thing, you've done something. that changes the whole attitude as to how people saw him. >> i feel totally blessed. >> you know when i like about this? however irritating it may be to have someone come talk to you every day, you are using it for good. i was reading a tweet you sent out not too long ago. you said don't be a humperdinck. give to mercy core.
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>> a nonprofit organization i work with. they're really incredible. they're not like any other organization i know of. you know that saying, give a person a fish, feed them for a day. teach them to fish, feed them for a lifetime. that's what they do, besides just providing the regular essentials like food, medicine and shelter, they go in and they help rebuild the economy of these areas that have been affected by natural disasteros r manmade conflicts. they just developed this incredible program for low-income farmers in uganda, zimbabwe where they'll help these farmers increase their revenue by 30% in the first three years. >> it is a great cause. i wonder if you would humor me. this one involves billy crystal.
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let's watch. >> liar! liar. >> get back, witch. >> i'm not a witch. i'm your wife. after what you just said, i'm not even sure i want to be that anymore. >> the cast here is extraordinary, carol cain, billy crystal, it seems like all-star cast, all-star everything from the beginning. >> i with his a huge fan of all these characters. i knew bill goldman from his work, "all the president's men" and rob rei nechlt r from "spine tap" and carol. and peter faulk from "colombo." i thought how am i going to fit into this group? i hope i don't screw it up. rob was such a wonderful director, so sweechlt being an actor himself, he gets it. he kept a very light set and we had a blast. >> there are folks who work with
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us this morning who probably were babies when -- they're new fans. seriously. this film is attracting new audiences all the time. i fondly remember the '80s. i don't know about you. but attracting new audiences, that's what makes it, i guess, classy. >> 34-year-old women like my wife, that's who has to be wosh walking up to you, that's who loved this film. not that men like john didn't love it as well. >> cary elwes, thank you so much. >> if fans want to help mercy core, they can go on www.mer www.mercycorps.org. and you can get limited edition memorabilia. >> 25 years of princess bride. if you can believe it. our end point coming up next.
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we're following this for you. two u.s. border agents have been shot. and one has decide near a major drug smuggling area in arizona. their identities not released yet. shoot i shooting happened at the brian terry station in naco. that station was named after terry after he was killed in the line of duty in december 2010. his death connected to the botched fast and furious gun tracking operation. we'll continue to follow that for you. we can tell you that one border patrol agent has died at that location. >> we have time for one quick end point. roland martin? >> great night, dallas cowboys. christine, what do we say too cowboy

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